Deputy assaulted, newspaper rack destroyed

EUREKA – A woman was arrested Sunday, June 3 after she allegedly got drunk, destroyed a newspaper rack and then assaulted a deputy in front of the Sheriff’s Office entrance on Fourth Street in Eureka.

At about 2:30 a.m. Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Fourth Street entrance of the Humboldt County Courthouse for the report of a female subject causing a disturbance.

Sara Elizabeth Ford

Upon arrival, the deputy found 28-year-old Sara Elizabeth Ford allegedly vandalizing a newspaper dispenser outside of the building.

Observing Ford to be intoxicated, the deputy attempted to place her under arrest. Ford then allegedly assaulted the deputy with a glass object. Ford continued to struggle with deputies as she was taken into custody.

Ford was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on suspicion of resisting arrest, assault on a peace officer, disorderly conduct under the influence of alcohol and violation of probation.

During Ford’s vandalism of the K-Jack newspaper rack, she tore off the steel front, including the door, the frame around it and a coin box, effectively destroying the rusting artifact, which dates back to about 1993 or 1994.

The machine served the The Union until that paper was shut down in late 1995. The machine didn’t skip a beat, though. One week after The Union put out its last issue, the rack began dispensing the Humboldt Beacon. Sometime after the Beacon shuttered in December 2011, the rack was acquired by the McKinleyville Press, which then merged with the Arcata Eye in 2013 and became the Mad River Union.

The rusting hulk – known for being a finicky machine with a tendency to malfunction – was slated to be hauled to a scrap yard this week after about a quarter century of service to readers and the local newspaper industry.

The Mad River Union's newspaper rack sits upside down with its front ripped off.